Starsailor steer a course for success

YOU could be forgiven for assuming Starsailor had sunk without trace as swashbuckling pirates like Pete Docherty over-run the ports that lily-livered acts like Keane and Coldplay had once called home. Despite winning widespread respect the band never quite made it onto the open waters of mass-market appeal. They play in the region tonight.

YOU could be forgiven for assuming Starsailor had sunk without trace as swashbuckling pirates like Pete Docherty over-run the ports that lily-livered acts like Keane and Coldplay had once called home.

Despite winning widespread respect with songs like Good Souls, Alcoholic, Fever and the hauntingly loveable Lullaby - the band never quite made it onto the open waters of mass-market appeal. But their voyage is far from over.

Having toured the world, and recently stood in for Amy Winehouse as support to the Rolling Stones, Starsailor are even now putting the finishing touches to their fourth studio album.

And lead singer James Walsh (pictured, centre) is still hopeful that the band will be more than a footnote in the story of north west music.

"I'd love us to be bigger," admits Chorley-raised James during a break from recording what is still known to the band as 'Album Number Four'.

"But it will be hard to assess whether we're going in the right direction until almost after the event," he adds philosophically.

"I was always envious of bands like Oasis and the Stone Roses, who you'd watch a documentary about and some journalist or celebrity would be waxing lyrical on how important this band was for the late '80s or the late '90s, and that's something I'd like for us - to be mentioned in the Top 50 albums of the noughties.

"This might be our fourth album, but everything is still going swimmingly in the studio. The only thing we fall out about is football.

"I don't know if there's a secret, I just think it's important when you're forming a band that you are doing it with mates, or at least people who you get on with.

"You must have a shared goal as well. We're all committed to the band and we'd do anything to ensure that we achieve the ultimate goal of surviving for the next 20 years, and hopefully, having an impact on British music."

Recording contract

Album Number Four finds Starsailor seven years into the recording contract which picked the band up playing various north west towns and introduced them to the world.

Walsh temporarily decamped to Belfast, but recently moved to Finchley, London, with his wife, Lisa, and five-year-old daughter, Niamh, for the sake of the band.

"With the album coming out, we wanted to make a real go of it and it's a lot easier with me in the same country," he adds.

There isn't a particular theme to the new material, Walsh says, but married life and international politics are some of the key ingredients among the 16 songs which have been recorded to date.

"There was a long gruelling trip to American which influenced one of the songs, about what's going on politically over there, how scary it is, the amount of power the government has over how you speak and the way you act," he adds. "It made me thankful to be a British citizen.

"As for married life, we've been doing it for thousands and thousands of years, but you can get such a lot of material from it. It's an adventure. There are some amazing times, some boring times, some sad times and some great times. Any emotion you can mention, that's what marriage is."

Soul

Walsh adds: "A lot of people who listen to it tell us that there's a lot of soul to the new album. We've tried to write classic songs, work the sounds around them, instead of experimenting too much.

"There's quite a heavy Van Morrison and soul influence to the album and we are all big Neil Young and Gram Parsons fans as well so we're quite excited for people to hear it."

They'll get their chance during a mini-tour of relative backwaters which Starsailor have signed up to support the Fairtrade organisation, which campaigns on behalf of producers in the developing world.

"We're helping in a small way and wanted to go around the minor venues," Walsh adds. "Then, when the album is finished in the spring, we'll do a victory lap of major venues like the Apollo or the Academy, which are our old stomping grounds."

Speaking of which, Starsailor have journeyed a long way since they first cast off into a sea of soul-filled music with their record deal in 2000.

Now 27, Walsh says there were a few frustrating months when he wasn't sure whether he should stay with the band or get a proper job.

"It was almost at the last minute that we got signed," he adds. "I was due to start on a computer course - when I went into the Job Centre and told the women 'I've got a job as a musician' she said, 'Oh, what are the hours?' "

Starsailor play the Parr Hall in Warrington on Friday, October 5 as part of their autumn tour to promote theFairtrade mark. Call 0161 832 1111 to check availability. The band will be back on the road for a tour of major venues after the release of their fourth album in the spring.

Are you going to the show? Tell us what you thought afterwards by entering our Reviewer of the Monthcompetition.